

Class 

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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 
























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Frontispiece— Jessica' s First Prayer. 

“THE MINISTER ADVANCED INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE 

ROOM.” 




THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

OCT 17 1903 

Copyright Entry 

pi 

CLASy CO XXc. No 

7 ? L «r 

COPY B. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR 


JESSICA’S MOTHER 


50 Cents 


Copyright, 1903, by Henry Altemus 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

PACK 

I. 

The Coffee-stall and its Keeper 

. 11 

II. 

Jessica’s Temptation .... 

23 

III. 

An Old Friend in a New Dress . 

. 33 

IV. 

Peeps into Fairyland 

45 

V. 

A New World Opens . 

. . 55 

VI. 

The First Prayer .... 

65 

VII. 

Hard Questions 

. 71 

VIII. 

An Unexpected Visitor 

77 

IX. 

Jessica’s First Prayer Answered . 

. 87 

X. 

The Shadow of Death 

. 101 





































































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ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

“The minister advanced into the middle of the room” 

Frontispiece. 

“She was seated upon an empty basket” . . . 19 

“ ‘Jess,’ he said sternly, ‘tell me all about it’ ” . .29 

“She stepped out into the cold and darkness” . . 43/ 

“ ‘What is your name, my child?’ he asked” . . 59 / 

“ ‘Jessica,’ he said sadly, ‘is this where you live?’ ” 81 / 

“ ‘Has God told you to come here, Mr. Dan’el?’ ” . 95 ^ 

“The mistress of the lodgings stood at her door” . 105 

“Many a cheerful walk they had together” . . . Ill v 

(ix) 


































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THE COFFEE-STALL AND ITS 

KEEPER 


XI 


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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


CHAPTER I 

THE COFFEE-STALL AND ITS KEEPER 

I N a screened and secluded corner of one 
of the many railway-bridges which span 
the streets of London there could be seen, 
a few years ago, from five o’clock every morn- 
ing until half past eight, a tidily set-out coffee- 
stall, consisting of a trestle and board, upon 
which stood two large tin cans, with a small 
fire of charcoal burning under each so as to 
keep the coffee boiling during the early hours 
of the morning when the work-people were 
thronging into the city on their way to their 
daily toil. The coffee-stall was a favorite one, 
for besides being under shelter, which was of 
great consequence upon rainy mornings, it was 
13 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 

also in so private a niche that the customers 
taking their out-of-door breakfast were not too 
much exposed to notice; and, moreover, the 
coffee-stall keeper was a quiet man, who cared 
only to serve the busy workmen without hinder- 
ing them by any gossip. He was a tall, spare, 
elderly man, with a singularly solemn face, and 
a manner which was grave and secret. Nobody 
knew either his name or dwelling-place; unless 
it might be the policeman who strode past the 
coffee-stall every half-hour, and nodded famil- 
iarly to the solemn man behind it. There were 
very few who cared to make any inquiries about 
him ; but those who did could only discover that 
he kept the furniture of his stall at a neighbor- 
ing coffee-house, whither he wheeled his trestle 
and board and crockery every day, not later 
than half-past eight in the morning ; after which 
he was wont to glide away with a soft footstep, 
and a mysterious and fugitive air-, with many 
backward and sidelong glances, as if he 
dreaded observation, until he was lost among the 
crowds which thronged the streets. No one had 
ever had the persevering curiosity to track him 

14 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


all the way to his house, or to find out his other 
means of gaining a livelihood; but in general 
his stall was surrounded by customers, whom he 
served with silent seriousness, and who did not 
grudge to pay him his charge for the refreshing 
coffee he supplied to them. 

For several years the crowd of work-people 
had paused by the coffee-stall under the railway- 
arch, when one morning, in a partial lull of his 
business, the owner became suddenly aware 
of a pair of very bright dark eyes being fastened 
upon him and the slices of bread and butter on 
his board, with a gaze as hungry as that of a 
mouse which has been driven by famine into a 
trap. A thin and meagre face belonged to the 
eyes, which was half hidden by a mass of matted 
hair hanging over the forehead, and down the 
neck; the only covering which the head or neck 
had, for a tattered frock, scarcely fastened 
together with broken strings, was slipping down 
over the shivering shoulders of the little girl. 
Stooping down to a basket behind his stall, he 
caught sight of two bare little feet curling up 
from the damp pavement, as the child lifted up 
i5 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


first one and then the other and laid them one 
over another to gain a momentary feeling of 
warmth. Whoever the wretched child was, she 
did not speak; only at every steaming cupful 
which he poured out of his can, her dark eyes 
gleamed hungrily, and he could hear her smack 
her thin lips, as if in fancy she was tasting the 
warm and fragrant coffee. 

“Oh, come now!” he said at last, when only 
one boy was left taking his breakfast leisurely, 
and he leaned over his stall to speak in a low 
and quiet tone; “why don’t you go away, little 
girl! Come, come ; you’re staying too long, you 
know. ’ ’ 

“I’m just going, sir,” she answered, shrug- 
ging her small shoulders to draw her frock up 
higher about her neck: “only it’s raining cats 
and dogs outside; and mother’s been away all 
night, and she took the key with her ; and it’s so 
nice to smell the coffee ; and the police has left 
off worriting me while I’ve been here. He 
thinks I’m a customer taking my breakfast.” 
And the little girl laughed a shrill little laugh 
of mockery at herself and the policeman. 

16 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“You’ve had no breakfast, I suppose,” said 
the coffee-stall keeper in the same low and confi- 
dential voice, and leaning over his stall till 
his face nearly touched the thin, sharp features 
of the child. 

“No,” she replied, coolly, “and I shall want 
my dinner dreadful bad afore I get it, I know. 
You don’t often feel dreadful hungry, do you, 
sir! I’m not griped yet, you know; but afore 
I taste my dinner it’ll be pretty bad, I tell you. 
Ah ! very bad indeed ! ’ ’ 

She turned away with a knowing nod, as much 
as to say she had one experience in life to which 
he was quite a stranger ; but before she had gone 
half a dozen steps, she heard the quiet voice 
calling to her in rather louder tones, and in an 
instant she was back at the stall. 

“Slip in here,” said the owner in a cautious 
whisper; “here’s a little coffee left and a few 
crusts. There, you must never come again, you 
know. I never give to beggars; and if you’d 
begged, I’d have called the police. There; put 
your poor feet toward the fire. Now aren’t 
you comfortable!” 


1 7 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


The child looked up with a face of intense 
satisfaction. She was seated upon an empty 
basket with her feet near the pan of charcoal, 
and a cup of steaming coffee on her lap ; but her 
mouth was too full for her to reply, except by a 
very deep nod, which expressed unbounded de- 
light. The man was busy for a while packing 
up his crockery; but every now and then he 
stopped to look down upon her, and to shake his 
head gravely. 

“What’s your name?” he asked at length; 
“but there, never mind! I don’t care what it 
is. What’s your name to do with me, I 
wonder ! ’ ’ 

“It’s Jessica,” said the girl; “but mother 
and everybody calls me Jess. You’d be tired 
of being called Jess, if you was me. It’s Jess 
here, and J ess there ; and everybody wanting me 
to go errands. And they think nothing of giv- 
ing me smacks and kicks and pinches. Look 
here ! ’ ’ 

Whether her arms were black and blue from 
the cold or from ill-usage, he could not tell ; but 


18 



“SHE WAS SEATED UPON AN EMPTY BASKET.” 


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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


he shook his head again seriously, and the child 
felt encouraged to go on. 

“I wish I could stay here for ever and ever, 
just as I am!” she cried. “But you Ye going 
away now; and am I never to come again or 
you’ll set the police on me?” 

“Yes,” said the coffee-stall keeper, very 
softly, and looking round to see if there were any 
other ragged children within sight; “if you’ll 
promise not to come again for a whole week, and 
not tell anybody else, you may come once more. 
I’ll give you one other treat. But you must be 
off now.” 

“I’m off, sir,” she said, sharply; “but if 
you’ve a errand I could go on, I’d do it all 
right, I would. Let me carry some of your 
things. ’ ’ 

“No, no,” cried the man; “you run away, like 
a good girl ; and mind ! I ’m not to see you again 
for a whole week.” 

“All right!” answered Jess, setting off down 
the rainy street at a quick run, as if to show 
her willing agreement to the bargain ; while the 
coffee-stall keeper, with many a cautious glance 


2— Jessica. 


21 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


around him, removed his stock-in-trade to the 
coffee-house near at hand, and was seen no more 
for the rest of the day in the neighborhood of the 
railway-bridge. 


22 


JESSICA’S TEMPTATION 


23 


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CHAPTER II 


Jessica's temptation 

J ESSICA kept her part of the bargain faith- 
fully; and though the solemn and silent 
man under the dark shadow of the bridge 
looked out for her every morning as he served 
his customers, he caught no glimpse of her wan 
face and thin little frame. But when the ap- 
pointed time was finished she presented herself 
at the stall, with her hungry eyes fastened again 
upon the piles of buns and bread and butter, 
which were fast disappearing before the de- 
mands of the buyers. The business was at its 
height, and the famished child stood quietly, on 
one side watching for the throng to melt away. 
But as soon as the nearest church clock had 
chimed eight, she drew a little nearer to the stall, 
and at a signal from its owner she slipped be- 
tween the trestles of his stand, and took up her 
former position on the empty basket. To his 

25 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


eyes she seemed even a little thinner, and cer- 
tainly more ragged, than before; and he laid a 
whole bnn, a stale one which was left from yes- 
terday^ stock, upon her lap, as she lifted the cup 
of coffee to her lips with both her benumbed 
hands. 

“ What ’s your name!” she asked, looking up 
to him with her keen eyes. 

“Why?” he answered, hesitatingly, as if he 
was reluctant to tell so much of himself; “my 
name is Daniel. ’ ’ 

“And where do you live, Mr. Daniel?” she 
inquired. 

“Oh, come now!” he exclaimed, “if you’re 
going to be impudent, you’d better march off. 
What business is it of yours where I live? I 
don’t want to know where you live, I can tell 
you. ’ ’ 

“I didn’t mean no offence,” said Jess, 
humbly, ‘ 4 only I thought I ’d like to know where 
a good man like you lived. You’re a very good 
man, aren’t you, Mr. Dan ’el?” 

‘ ‘ I don ’t know, ’ ’ he answered, uneasily ; “ I ’m 
afraid I’m not.” 


26 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“Oh, but you are, you know,” continued Jess. 
“You make good coffee; prime! And buns, 
too ! And I Ve been watching you hundreds of 
times afore you saw me, and the police leaves 
you alone, and never tells you to move on. Oh, 
yes ! you must be a very good man . 9 ’ 

Daniel sighed and fidgeted about his crockery 
with a grave and occupied air, as if he were 
pondering over the child ’s notion of goodness. 
He made good coffee, and the police left him 
alone ! It was quite true ; yet still as he 
counted up the store of pence which had accumu- 
lated in his strong canvas bag, he sighed again 
still more heavily. He purposely let one of his 
pennies fall upon the muddy pavement, and 
went on counting the rest busily, while he fur- 
tively watched the little girl sitting at his feet. 
Without a shade of change upon her small face, 
she covered the penny with her foot, and drew 
it in carefully towards her, while she continued 
to chatter fluently to him. For a moment a feel- 
ing of pain shot a pang through Daniel’s heart; 
and then he congratulated himself on having 
entrapped the young thief. It was time to be 
27 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


leaving now ; but before he went lie would make 
lier move her bare foot and disclose the penny 
concealed beneath it, and then he would warn 
her never to venture near his stall again. This 
was her gratitude, he thought ; he had given her 
two breakfasts and more kindness than he had 
shown to any fellow-creature for many a long 
year; and, at the first chance, the young jade 
turned upon him and robbed him! He was 
brooding over it painfully in his mind, when 
Jessica’s uplifted face changed suddenly and a 
dark flush crept over her pale cheeks, and the 
tears started to her eyes. She stooped down 
and picked up the coin out of the mud; she 
rubbed it bright and clean upon her rags, and 
laid it upon the stall close to his hand, but 
without speaking a word. Daniel looked down 
upon her solemnly and searcliingly. 

‘ 1 What ’s this ! ” he asked. 

“Please, Mr. Dan ’el,” she answered, “it 
dropped, and you didn ’t hear it. ’ ’ 

“Jess,” he said, sternly, “tell me all about 
it.” 

“Oh, please,” she sobbed, “I never had a 
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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


penny of my very own bnt once; and it rolled 
close to my foot; and you didn’t see it; and I 
hid it np sharp; and then I thought how kind 
you’d been, and how good the coffee and buns 
are, and how you let me warm myself at your 
fire ; and, please, I couldn ’t keep the penny any 
longer. You’ll never let me come again, I 
guess. ’ ’ 

Daniel turned away for a minute, busying 
himself with putting his cups and saucers into 
the basket, while Jessica stood by trembling, 
with the large tears rolling slowly down her 
cheeks. The snug, dark corner, with its warm 
fire of charcoal and its fragrant smell of coffee, 
had been a paradise to her for these two brief 
spans of time ; but she had been guilty of the sin 
which would drive her from it. All beyond the 
railway-arch the streets stretched away, cold 
and dreary, with no friendly face to meet hers, 
and no warm cups of coffee to refresh her; 
yet she was only lingering sorrowfully to hear 
the words spoken which should forbid her to 
return to this pleasant spot. Mr. Daniel Turned 
round at last, and met her tearful gaze with a 
3i 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


look of strange emotion upon his own solemn 
face. 

“ Jess,” lie said, “I could never have done it 
myself. But you may come here every Wed- 
nesday morning, as this is a Wednesday, and 
there’ll always he a cup of coffee for you.” 

She thought he meant that he could not have 
hidden the penny under his foot, and she went 
away a little saddened and subdued, notwith- 
standing her great delight in the expectation of 
such a treat every week ; while Daniel, pondering 
over the struggle that must have passed through 
her childish mind, went on his way, from time 
to time shaking his head, and muttering to him- 
self, “ I couldn’t have done it myself; I never 
could have done it myself. ’ ’ 


32 


AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW 

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CHAPTER III 


AN OLD FRIEND IN A NEW DRESS 

W EEK after week, through the last three 
months of the year, Jessica appeared 
every Wednesday at the coffee-stall, 
and, after waiting patiently till the close of the 
breakfasting business, received her pittance 
from the charity of her new friend. After a 
while Daniel allowed her to carry some of his 
load to the coffee-house, but he never suffered 
her to follow farther, and he was always par- 
ticular to watch her out of sight before he 
turned off through the intricate mazes of the 
streets in the direction of his own home. 
Neither did he encourage her to ask him any 
more questions; and often but very few words 
passed between them during Jessica’s breakfast- 
time. 

As to Jessica’s home, she made no secret of 
it, and Daniel might have followed her any 
35 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 

time he pleased. It was a single room which 
had once been a hayloft over the stable of an 
old inn, now in nse for two or three donkeys, 
the property of costermongers dwelling in the 
court about it. The mode of entrance was by 
a wooden ladder, whose rungs were crazy and 
broken, and which led up through a trap-door 
in the floor of the loft. The interior of the 
home was as desolate and comfortless as that 
of the stable below, with only a litter of straw 
for the bedding, and a few bricks and hoards 
for the furniture. Everything that could be 
pawned had disappeared long ago, and Jessica ’s 
mother often lamented that she could not thus 
dispose of her child. Yet Jessica was hardly a 
burden to her. It was a long time since she had 
taken any care to provide her with food or 
clothing, and the girl had to earn or beg for 
herself the meat which kept a scanty life within 
her. Jess was the drudge and errand-girl of 
the court, and what with being cuffed and beaten 
by her mother, and over-worked and ill-used 
by her numerous employers, her life was a hard 
one. But now there was always Wednesday 
36 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


morning to count upon and look forward to; 
and by-and-by a second scene of amazed delight 
opened upon lier. 

Jessica had wandered far away from home 
in the early darkness of a winter’s evening, 
after a violent outbreak of her drunken mother, 
and she was still sobbing now and then, with 
long-di;awn sobs of pain and weariness, when 
she saw a little way before her the tall, well- 
known figure of her friend, Mr. Daniel. He 
was dressed in a suit of black, with a white 
neckcloth, and he was pacing with brisk, yet 
measured, steps along the lighted streets. Jes- 
sica felt afraid of speaking to him, but she fol- 
lowed at a little distance, until presently he 
stopped before the iron gates of a large build- 
ing, and, unlocking them, passed on to the arched 
doorway, and with a heavy key opened the 
folding-doors and entered in. The child stole 
after him, but paused for a few minutes, trem- 
bling upon the threshold, until the gleam of a 
light within tempted her to venture a few steps 
forward, and to push a little way open' an inner 
door, covered with crimson baize, only so far 

3— Jessica. 37 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 

as to enable her to peep through at the inside. 
Then, growing bolder by degrees, she crept 
through herself, drawing the door to noiselessly 
behind her. The place was in partial gloom, 
but Daniel was kindling every gas-light and 
each minute lit it up in more striking grandeur. 
She stood in a carpeted aisle, with high oaken 
pews on each side almost as black as ebony. A 
gallery of the same dark old oak ran round the 
walls, resting upon massive pillars, behind one 
of which she was partly concealed, gazing with 
eager eyes at Daniel as he mounted the pulpit 
steps and kindled the lights there, disclosing to 
her curious delight the glittering pipes of an 
organ behind it. Before long the slow and soft- 
footed chapel keeper disappeared for a minute 
or two into a vestry; and Jessica, availing her- 
self of his short absence, stole silently up under 
the shelter of the dark pews until she reached 
the steps of the organ loft, w,itli its golden 
show. But at this moment Mr. Daniel appeared 
again, arrayed in a long gown of black serge; 
and as she stood spell-bound gazing at the 
strange appearance of her patron, his eyes fell 
38 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


upon her and he also was struck speechless for a 
minute, with an air of amazement and dismay 
upon his grave face. 

“Come now/’ he exclaimed, harshly, as soon 
as he could recover his presence of mind, “you 
must take yourself out of this. This isn’t any 
place for such as you. It’s for ladies and 
gentlemen ; so you must run away sharp before 
anybody comes. How ever did you find your 
way here!” 

He had come very close to her, and bent down 
to whisper in her ear, looking nervously round 
to the entrance all the time. Jessica’s eager 
tongue was loosened. 

“Mother beat me,” she said, “and turned 
me into the streets, and I see you there, so I 
followed you up. I’ll run away this minute, Mr. 
Dan ’el; but it’s a nice place. What do the 
ladies and gentlemen do when they come here! 
Tell me, and I ’ll be off sharp. ’ ’ 

“They come here to pray,” whispered Daniel. 

“What is pray!” asked Jessica. 

“Bless the child!” cried Daniel, in perplexity. 
“Why they kneel down in those pews— most of 
39 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


them sit, though ; and the minister up in the pul- 
pit tells God what they want. ’ ’ 

Jessica gazed into his face with such an air 
of bewilderment that a faint smile crept over the 
sedate features of the pew-opener. 

“What is a minister and God?” she said; 
“and do ladies and gentlemen want anything? 
I thought they’d everything they wanted, Mr. 
Dan ’el.” 

“Oh!” cried Daniel, “ you must be off, you 
know. They’ll be coming in a minute, and 
they’d be shocked to see a ragged little 
heathen like you. This is the pulpit, where the 
minister stands and preaches to ’em; and there 
are the pews where they sit to listen to him, or 
to go to sleep, maybe; and that’s the organ to 
play music to their singing. There, I’ve told 
you everything, and you must never come again, 
never. ’ ’ 

“Mr. Dan ’el, ” said Jessica, “I don’t know 
nothing about it. Isn’t there a dark little corner 
somewhere that I could hide in?” 

“No, no,” interrupted Daniel, impatiently; 
“we couldn’t do with such a little heathen, with 
40 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


no shoes or bonnet on. Come now, it’s only a 
quarter to the time, and somebody will be here 
in a minute. Run away, do ! ’ 9 

Jessica retraced her steps slowly to the crim- 
son door, casting many a longing look back- 
wards; but Mr. Daniel stood at the end of the 
aisle, frowning upon her whenever she glanced 
behind. She gained the lobby at last, but al- 
ready someone was approaching the chapel 
door, and beneath the lamp at the gate stood one 
of her natural enemies— a policeman. Her 
heart beat fast, but she was quick-witted, and in 
another instant she spied a place of concealment 
behind one of the doors, into which she crept 
for safety until the path should be clear and 
the policeman passed upon his beat. 

The congregation began to arrive quickly. 
She heard the rustling of silk dresses, and she 
could see the gentlemen and ladies pass by the 
niche between the door and the post. Once she 
ventured to stretch out a thin little finger and 
touch a velvet mantle as the wearer of it swept 
by, but no one caught her in the act, or suspected 
her presence behind the door. Mr. Daniel, she 
4i 


JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER 

could see, was very busy ushering the people 
to their seats; but there was a startled look 
lingering upon his face, and every now and 
then he peered anxiously into the outer gloom 
and darkness, and even once called to the police- 
man to ask if he had seen a ragged child hang- 
ing about. After a while the organ began to 
sound, and Jessica, crouching down in her 
hiding-place, listened entranced to the sweet 
music. She could not tell what made her cry, 
but the tears came so rapidly that it was of no 
use to rub the corners of her eyes with her hard 
knuckles ; so she lay down upon the ground, and 
buried her face in her hands, and wept without 
restraint. When the singing was over, she could 
only catch a confused sound of a voice speaking. 
The lobby was empty now, and the crimson 
door closed. The policeman, also, had walked 
on. This was the moment to escape. She 
raised herself from the ground with a feeling of 
weariness and sorrow ; and, thinking sadly of the 
light, and warmth, and music that were within 
the closed doors, she stepped out into the cold 
and darkness of the streets, and loitered home- 
wards with a heavy heart. 

42 



Jessica's First Prayer. 

“SHE STEPPED OUT INTO THE COLD AND DARKNESS.” 


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PEEPS INTO FAIRYLAND 


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CHAPTER IV 


PEEPS INTO FAIRYLAND 

I T was not the last time that Jessica con- 
cealed herself behind the baize-covered 
door. She could not overcome the urgent 
desire to enjoy again and again the secret and 
perilous pleasure, and Sunday after Sunday she 
watched in the dark streets for the moment when 
she could slip in unseen. She soon learned the 
exact time when Daniel would be occupied in 
lighting up, before the policeman would take up 
his station at the entrance, and, again, the very 
minute at which it would be wise and safe to 
take her departure. Sometimes the child 
laughed noiselessly to herself, until she shook 
with suppressed merriment, as she saw Daniel 
standing unconsciously in the lobby, with his 
solemn face and grave air, to receive the congre- 
gation, much as he faced his customers at the 
coffee-stall. She learned to know the minister 
4 7 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


by sight— the tall, thin, pale gentleman, who 
passed through a side door, with his head 
bent as if in deep thought, while two 
little girls, about her own age, followed him 
with sedate yet pleasant faces. Jessica took a 
great interest in the minister’s children. The 
young one was fair, and the elder was about 
as tall as herself, and had eyes and hair as 
dark ; but oh, how cared for, how plainly waited 
on by tender hands! Sometimes, when they 
were gone by, she would close her eyes, and 
wonder what they would do in one of the high 
black pews inside, where there was no place for 
a ragged, barefooted girl like her ; and now and 
then her wanderings almost ended in a sob, 
which she was compelled to stifle. 

It was an untold relief to Daniel that Jessica 
did not ply him with questions, as he feared, 
when she came for breakfast every Wednes- 
day morning; but she was too shrewd and cun- 
ning for that. She wished him to forget that 
she had ever been there, and by-and-by her 
wish was accomplished, and Daniel was no 
longer uneasy, while he was lighting the lamps, 
48 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


with the dread of seeing the child’s wild face 
starting up before him. 

But the light evenings of summer-time were 
drawing near apace, and Jessica foresaw, with 
dismay, that her Sunday treat would soon be 
over. The risk of discovery increased every 
week, for the sun was later and later in setting, 
and there would be no chance of creeping in 
and out unseen in the broad daylight. Already 
it needed both watchfulness and alertness to dart 
in at the right moment in the gray twilight; 
but still she could not give it up; and if it had 
not been for the fear of offending Mr. Daniel, 
she would have resolved upon going until she 
was found out. They could not punish her very 
much for standing in the lobby of a chapel. 

Jessica was found out, however, before the 
dusky evenings were quite gone. It happened 
one night that the minister’s children, coming 
early to the chapel, saw a small, tattered figure, 
bareheaded and barefooted, dart swiftly up the 
steps before them and disappear within the 
lobby. They paused and looked at one another, 
and then, hand in hand, their hearts beating 
49 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 

quickly, and the color coming and going on 
their faces, they followed this strange new 
member of their father’s congregation. The 
pew-opener was nowhere to be seen, but their 
quick eyes detected the prints of the wet little 
feet which had trodden the clean pavement 
before them, and in an instant they discovered 
Jessica crouching behind the door. 

“Let us call Daniel Standring,” said Winny, 
the younger child, clinging to her sister ; but she 
had spoken aloud, and Jessica overheard her, 
and before they could stir a step she stood before 
them with an earnest and imploring face. 

“Oh, don’t have me drove away,” she cried; 
“I’m a very poor little girl, and it’s all the 
pleasure I’ve got. I’ve seen you lots of times, 
with that tall gentleman as stoops, and I didn’t 
think you’d have me drove away. I don’t do 
any harm behind the door, and if Mr. Daniel 
finds me out he won’t give me any more coffee.” 

“Little girl,” said the elder child, in a com- 
posed and demure voice, “we don’t mean to be 
unkind to you; but what do you come here for, 
and why do you hide yourself behind the door ? ’ ’ 
5o 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“I like to hear the music/ ’ answered Jessica, 
“and I want to find out what pray is, and the 
minister and God. I know it’s only for ladies 
and gentlemen, and fine children like you; but 
I’d like to go inside just for once, and see what 
you do.” 

“You shall come with us into our pew,” cried 
Winny, in an eager and impulsive tone ; but Jane 
laid her hand upon her outstretched arm with 
a glance at Jessica’s ragged clothes and matted 
hair. It was a question difficult enough to per- 
plex them. The little outcast was plainly too 
dirty and neglected for them to invite her to 
sit side by side with them in their crimson- 
lined pew, and no poor people attended the 
chapel with whom she could have a seat. But 
Winny, with flushing cheeks and indignant eyes, 
looked reproachfully at her elder sister. 

“Jane,” she said, opening her Testament and 
turning over the leaves hurriedly, “this was 
papa’s text a little while ago : ‘For if there come 
into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in 
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor 
man in vile raiment ; and ye have respect to him 
5i 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, 
Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the 
poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under my 
footstool ; are ye not then partial in yourselves, 
and are become judges of evil thoughts V If 
we don’t take this little girl into our pew, we 
‘have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
Lord of glory, with respect of persons. ’ 9 9 

“I don’t know what to do,” answered Jane, 
sighing; “the Bible seems plain; but I’m sure 
papa would not like it. Let us ask the chapel- 
keeper. ’ ’ 

“Oh, no, no!” cried Jessica; “don’t let Mr. 
Daniel catch me here. I won’t come again, in- 
deed; and I’ll promise not to try and find out 
about God and the minister, if you’ll only let 
me go.” 

“But, little girl,” said Jane, in a sweet but 
grave manner, “we ought to teach you about 
God, if you don’t know Him. Our papa is the 
minister, and if you’ll come with us we’ll ask 
him what we must do. ’ ’ 

“Will Mr. Daniel see me!” asked Jessica. 

“Nobody but papa is in the vestry,” answered 

5 2 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


Jane, “and he ’ll tell us all, yon and us, what 
we ought to do. You’ll not be afraid of him, 
will you?” 

“No,” said Jessica, cheerfully, following the 
minister’s children as they led her along the 
side of the chapel towards the vestry. 

“He is not such a terrible personage,” said 
Winny, looking round encouragingly, as Jane 
tapped softly at the door, and they heard a 
voice saying, 4 ‘ Come in. ’ ’ 


4 — Jessica. 


53 











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A NEW WORLD OPENS 


55 




































































































CHAPTER V 


A NEW WORLD OPENS 

T PIE minister was sitting in an easy-chair 
before a comfortable fire, with a hymn- 
book in his hand, which he closed as the 
three children appeared in the open doorway. 
Jessica had seen his pale and thoughtful face 
many a time from her hiding-place, but she had 
never met the keen, earnest searching gaze of 
his eyes, which seemed to pierce through all her 
wretchedness and misery, and to read at once 
the whole history of her desolate life. But be- 
fore her eyelids could droop, or she could drop 
a reverential courtesy, the minister’s face kindled 
with such a glow of pitying tenderness and com- 
passion as fastened her eyes upon him, and gave 
her new heart and courage. His children ran 
to him, leaving Jessica upon the mat at the door, 
and with eager voices and gestures told him the 
difficulty they were in. 


57 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“Come here, little girl,” he said; and Jessica 
walked across the carpeted floor till she stood 
right before him, with folded hands, and eyes 
that looked frankly into his. 

4 4 What is your name, my child V ’ he asked. 

“Jessica,” she answered. 

“Jessica,” he repeated, with a smile; “that 
is a strange name. ’ ’ 

“Mother used to play 4 Jessica ’ at the theatre, 
sir,” she said, “and I used to be a fairy in the 
pantomime, till I grew too tall and ugly. If 
I’m pretty when I grow up, mother says I shall 
play, too; hut I’ve a long time to wait. Are 
you the minister, sir V ’ 

“Yes,” he answered, smiling again. 

4 4 What is a minister 1 9 9 she inquired. 

44 A servant!” he replied, looking away 
thoughtfully into the red embers of the fire. 

4 4 Papa!” cried Jane and Winny, in tones of 
astonishment; hut Jessica gazed steadily at the 
minister, who was now looking hack again into 
her bright eyes. 

4 4 Please, sir, whose servant are you?” she 
asked. 


58 



Jessica's First Prayer. 

“‘WHAT IS YOUR NAME, MY CHILD?’ HE ASKED.” 

59 



































JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“The servant of God and of man,” he an- 
swered solemnly. “Jessica, I am your serv- 
ant.^ 

The child shook her head and laughed 
shrilly as she gazed round the room, and at the 
handsome clothing of the minister’s daughters, 
while she drew her rags closer about her, and 
shivered a little, as if she felt a sting of the east 
wind, which was blowing keenly through the 
streets. The sound of her shrill, childish laugh 
made the minister’s heart ache and the tears 
burn under his eyelids. 

“Who is God!” asked the child. “When 
mother’s in a good temper, sometimes she says, 
‘God bless me!’ Do you know Him, please, 
minister ! ’ ’ 

But before there was time to answer, the door 
into the chapel was opened, and Daniel stood 
upon the threshold. At first he stared blandly 
forwards, but then his grave face grew ghastly 
pale, and he laid his hand upon the door to sup- 
port himself until he could recover his speech 
and senses. Jessica also looked about her, 
scared and irresolute, as if anxious to run away 
61 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


or to hide herself. The minister was the first 
to speak. 

“Jessica,” he said, “there is a place close 
under my pulpit where you shall sit, and where 
I can see you all the time. Be a good girl and 
listen, and you will hear something about God. 
Standring, put this little one in front of the pews 
by the pulpit steps. ’ ’ 

But before she could believe it for very glad- 
ness, Jessica found herself inside the chapel, 
facing the glittering organ, from which a sweet 
strain of music was sounding. Not far from 
her Jane and Winny were peeping over the 
front of their pew, with friendly smiles and 
glances. It was evident that the minister ’s elder 
daughter was anxious about her behavior, and 
she made energetic signs to her when to stand 
up and when to kneel; but Winny was content 
with smiling at her whenever her head rose 
above the top of the pew. Jessica was happy, 
but not in the least abashed. The ladies and 
gentlemen were not at all unlike those whom she 
had often seen when she was a fairy at the the- 
atre ; and very soon her attention was engrossed 
62 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


by the minister, whose eyes often fell npon her 
as she gazed eagerly, with uplifted face, npon 
him. She conld scarcely understand a word of 
what he said, hut she liked the tones of his voice, 
and the tender pity of his face as he looked 
down upon her. Daniel hovered about a good 
deal, with an air of uneasiness and displeasure, 
but she was unconscious of his presence. Jessica 
was intent upon finding out what a minister and 
God were. 


63 






THE FIRST PRAYER 


65 


/ 
































































































CHAPTER VI 


THE FIRST PRAYER 

W HEN the service was ended, the minis- 
ter descended the pulpit steps, just as 
Daniel was about to hurry Jessica 
away, and taking her by the hand in the face of 
all the congregation he led her into the vestry, 
whither Jane and Winny quickly followed them. 
He was fatigued with the services of the day, 
and his pale face was paler than ever as he 
placed Jessica before his chair, into which be 
threw himself with an air of exaustion; hut, 
bowing his head upon his hands, he said 
in a low but clear tone, “Lord, these are the 
lambs of thy flock. Help me to feed thy 
lambs ! ’ 9 

“ Children, ’ ’ he said, with a smile upon his 
weary face, “it is no easy thing to know God. 
But this one thing we know, that he is our 
Father— my Father and your Father, Jessica. 
67 


JESSICA’S FIRST < PRAYER 


He loves you, and cares for you more than I do 
for my little girls here.” 

He smiled at them and they at him, with an 
expression which Jessica felt and understood, 
though it made her sad. She trembled a little, 
and the minister’s ear caught the sound of a 
faint though bitter sob. 

“I never had any father,” she said, sorrow- 
fully. 

“God is your Father,” he answered very 
gently; “he knows all about you, because he is 
present everywhere. We cannot see him, but 
we have only to speak and he hears us, and we 
may ask him for whatever we want.” 

“Will he let me speak to him as well as these 
fine children that are clean and have got nice 
clothes?” asked Jessica, glancing anxiously at 
her muddy feet and her soiled and tattered 
frock. 

“Yes,” said the minister, smiling, yet sighing 
at the same time; “you may ask him this mo- 
ment for what you want . 9 9 

Jessica gazed round the room with large, 
wide-open eyes, as if she were seeking to see 
68 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


God; but then she shut her eyelids tightly, and 
bending her head upon her hands, as she had 
seen the minister do, she said, “0 God! I want 
to know about you. And please pay Mr. Dan ’el 
for all the warm coffee he’s give.” 

Jane and Winny listened with faces of unut- 
terable amazement; but the tears stood in the 
minister’s eyes, and he added “Amen” to 
Jessica’s first prayer. 


5— Jessica. 


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HARD QUESTIONS 


71 






































































CHAPTER VII 


HAKD QUESTIONS 

D ANIEL had no opportunity of speaking to 
Jessica; for, after waiting until the min- 
ister left the vestry, he found that she 
had gone away by the side entrance. He had 
to wait, therefore, until Wednesday morning, 
and the sight of her pinched little face was wel- 
come to him when he saw it looking wistfully 
over the coffee-stall. Yet he had made up his 
mind to forbid her to come again, and to threaten 
her with the policeman if he ever caught her at 
the chapel, where for the future he intended to 
keep a sharper lookout. But before he could 
speak Jess had slipped under the stall and taken 
her old seat upon the up-turned basket. 

“Mr. Dan ’el,” she said, “has God paid you 
for my sups of coffee yet?” 

‘ ‘ Paid me ? ” he repeated ; 1 ‘ God ? No. ’ ’ 
“Well, He will,” she answered, nodding her 
73 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


head sagely; ‘ 1 don’t you be afraid of your 
money, Mr. Dan ’el; I’ve asked Him a many 
times, and the minister says he’s sure to do it.” 

“Jess,” said Daniel, sternly, “have you been 
and told the minister about my coffee-stall ? ’ ’ 

“No,” she answered, with a beaming smile, 
“but I’ve told God lots and lots of times since 
Sunday, and he’s sure to pay in a day or 
two. ’ ’ 

“Jess,” continued Daniel, more gently, 
“you’re a sharp little girl, I see ; and now, mind, 
I’m going to trust you. You’re never to say a 
word about me or my coffee-stall; because the 
folks at our chapel are very grand, and might 
think it low and mean of me to keep a coffee- 
stall. Very likely they’d say I mustn’t be 
chapel-keeper any longer, and I should lose a 
deal of money.” 

“Why do you keep the stall, then?” asked 
Jessica. 

“Don’t you see what a many pennies I get 
every morning?” he said, shaking his canvas 
bag. “I get a good deal of money that way in 
a year.” 


74 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


‘ 4 What do you want such a deal of money 
for?” she inquired; “do you give it to 
God?” 

Daniel did not answer, but the question went 
to his heart like a sword-thrust. What did he 
want so much money for? He thought of his 
one bare solitary room, where he lodged alone, 
a good way from the railway bridge, with very 
few comforts in it, but containing a desk, strong- 
ly and securely fastened, in which was his sav- 
ings-bank book and his receipts for money put 
out at interest, and a bag of sovereigns, for 
which he had been toiling and slaving both on 
Sundays and week-days. He could not remem- 
ber giving anything away, except the dregs of 
the coffee and the stale buns, for which Jessica 
was asking God to pay him. He coughed and 
cleared his throat, and rubbed his eyes; and 
then, with nervous and hesitating fingers, he 
took a penny from his bag and slipped it into 
Jessica’s hand. 

“No, no, Mr. Dan ’el,” she said; “I don’t 
want you to give me any of your pennies. I 
want God to pay you.” 


7 5 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“Aye, He’ll pay me,” muttered Daniel; 
‘ 4 there ’ll be a day of reckoning by-and-by. ’ ’ 

“Does God have reckoning days?” asked 
Jessica. “I used to like reckoning days when 
I was a fairy.” 

“Aye, aye,” be answered; “but there’s few 
folks like God’s reckoning days.” 

“But you’ll be glad, won’t you?” she said. 

Daniel bade her get on with her breakfast, 
and then he turned over in bis mind the thoughts 
which her questions bad awakened. Conscience 
told him he would not be glad to meet God’s 
reckoning day. 

“Mr. Dan ’el,” said Jessica, when they were 
about to separate, and he would not take back 
his gift of a penny, “if you wouldn’t mind, I’d 
like to come and buy a cup of coffee to-morrow, 
like a customer, you know; and I won’t let out 
a word about the stall to the minister next Sun- 
day, don’t you be afraid.” 

She tied the penny carefully into a corner of 
her rags, and, with a cheerful smile upon her 
thin face, she glided from under the shadow of 
the bridge, and was soon lost to Daniel ’s sight. 

76 


AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR 


77 



CHAPTER Vin 


AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR 

W HEN Jessica came to the street into 
which the court where she lived 
opened, she saw an unusual degree of 
excitement among the inhabitants, a group of 
whom were gathered about a tall gentleman, 
whom she recognized in an instant to be the min- 
ister. She elbowed her way through the midst 
of them, and the minister’s face brightened as 
she presented herself before him. He followed 
her up the low entry, across the squalid court, 
through the stable, empty of the donkeys just 
then, up the creaking rounds of the ladder, and 
into the miserable loft, where the tiles were fall- 
ing in, and the broken window-panes were 
stuffed with rags and paper. Near to the old 
rusty stove, which served as a grate when there 
was any fire, there was a short board laid across 
some bricks and upon this the minister took his 
79 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


seat, while Jessica sat upon the floor before him. 

“ Jessica,’ ’ he said, sadly, “is this where you 
live?” 

“Yes,” she answered, “but we’d a nicer room 
than this when I was a fairy, and mother played 
at the theatre; we shall be better oft when I’m 
grown up, if I’m pretty enough to play like 
her. ’ ’ 

“My child,” he said, “I’m come to ask your 
mother to let you go to school in a pleasant place 
down in the country. Will she let you go?” 

“No,” answered Jessica; “mother says she’ll 
never let me learn to read, or go to church ; she 
says it would make me good for nothing. But 
please, sir, she doesn’t know anything about 
your church, it’s such a long way off, and she 
hasn’t found me out yet. She always gets very 
drunk of a Sunday.” 

The child spoke simply, and as if all she said 
was a matter of course ; but the minister shud- 
dered, and he looked through the broken window 
to the little patch of gloomy sky overhead. 

“What can I do?” he cried, mournfully, as 
though speaking to himself. 

80 



Gcorpe fttifer &rift 


Jessica's First Prayer. 

“‘JESSICA,’ HE SAID, SADLY, ‘IS THIS WHERE YOU LIVE?’” 

8l 









































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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“Nothing, please, sir,” said Jessica; “only let 
me come to hear you of a Sunday, and tell me 
about God. If you was to give me fine clothes 
like your little girls, mother ’ud only pawn them 
for gin. You can’t do anything more for me.” 

4 ‘ Where is your mother ? ” he asked. 

“Out on a spree,” said Jessica, “and she 
won’t be home for a day or two. She’d not 
hearken to you, sir. There’s the missionary 
came, and she pushed him down the ladder, till 
he was nearly killed. They used to call mother 
the Vixen at the theatre, and nobody durst say 
a word to her.” 

The minister was silent for some minutes, 
thinking painful thoughts, for his eyes seemed 
to darken as he looked round the miserable 
room, and his face wore an air of sorrow and 
disappointment. At last he spoke again. 

“Who is Mr. Daniel, Jessica?” he inquired. 

“ Oh ! ” she said cunningly, “he ’s only a friend 
of mine as gives me sups of coffee. You don’t 
know all the folks in London, sir!” 

“No,” he answered, smiling; “but does he 
keep a coffee-stall?” 


*3 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


Jessica nodded her head, but did not trust 
herself to speak. 

“How much does a cup of coffee cost?” asked 
the minister. 

“A full cup’s a penny,” she answered, 
promptly; “but you can have half a cup; and 
there are halfpenny and penny buns. ’ ’ 

“Good coffee and buns?” he said, with an- 
other smile. 

“Prime,” replied Jessica, smacking her lips. 

“Well,” continued the minister, “tell your 
friend to give you a full cup of coffee and a 
penny bun every morning, and I’ll pay for them 
as often as he chooses to come to me for the 
money. ’ ’ 

Jessica’s face beamed with delight, but in an 
instant it clouded over as she recollected 
Daniel’s secret, and her lips quivered as she 
spoke her disappointed reply. 

“Please, sir,” she said, “I’m sure he couldn’t 
come; oh! he couldn’t. It’s such a long way, 
and Mr. Dan ’el has plenty of customers. No, 
he never would come to you for the money.” 

“Jessica,” he answered, “I will tell you what 
84 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


I will do. I will trust you with a shilling every 
Sunday, if you’ll promise to give it to your 
friend the very first time you see him. I shall 
be sure to know if you cheat me.” And the 
keen, piercing eyes of the minister looked down 
into Jessica’s, and once more the tender and 
pitying smile returned to his face. 

“I can do nothing else for you?” he said, in 
a tone of mingled sorrow and questioning. 

“No, minister,” answered Jessica; “only tell 
me about God.” 

“I will tell you one thing about Him now,” 
he replied. “If I took you to live in my house 
with my little daughters, you would have to be 
washed and clothed in new clothing to make you 
fit for it. God wanted us to go and live at home 
with him in heaven, but we were so sinful that 
we could never have been fit for it. So he sent 
his own Son to live among us, and die for us, to 
wash us from our sins, and to give us new cloth- 
ing, and to make us ready to live in God’s 
house. When you ask God for anything, you 
must say, ‘For Jesus Christ’s sake.’ Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God.” 

6 — Jessica. 85 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


After these words the minister carefully de- 
scended the ladder, followed by Jessica’s bare 
and nimble feet, and she led him by the nearest 
way into one of the great thoroughfares of the 
city, where he said good-by to her, adding, “God 
bless you, my child,” in a tone which sank into 
Jessica’s heart. He had put a silver sixpence 
into her hand to provide for her breakfast the 
next three mornings, and, with a feeling of being 
very rich, she returned to her miserable home. 

The next morning Jessica presented herself 
proudly as a customer at Daniel ’s stall, and paid 
over the sixpence in advance. He felt a little 
troubled as he heard her story, lest the minister 
should endeavor to find him out; but he could 
not refuse to let the child come daily for her 
comfortable breakfast. If he was detected, he 
would promise to give up his coffee-stall rather 
than off end the great people of the chapel ; but, 
unless he was, it would be foolish of him to lose 
the money it brought in week after week. 


86 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 
ANSWERED 


87 

























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jfev 









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CHAPTER IX 


Jessica's first prayer answered 

E VERY Sunday evening the barefooted and 
bareheaded child might be seen advanc- 
ing confidently up to the chapel where 
rich and fashionable people worshiped God ; but 
before taking her place she arrayed herself in a 
little cloak and bonnet, which had once belonged 
to the minister’s elder daughter, and which was 
kept with Daniel’s serge gown, so that she pre- 
sented a somewhat more respectable appearance 
in the eyes of the congregation. The minister 
had no listener more attentive, and he would have 
missed the pinched, earnest little face, if it were 
not to be seen in the seat just under the pulpit. 
At the close of each service he spoke to her for a 
minute or two in his vestry, often saying no more 
than a single sentence, for the day’s labor had 
wearied him. The shilling, which was always 
lying upon the chimney-piece, placed there by 
89 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


Jane and Winny in turns, was immediately 
handed over, according to promise, to Daniel as 
she left the chapel, and so Jessica’s breakfast 
was provided for her week after week. 

But at last there came a Sunday evening when 
the minister, going up into his pulpit, did miss 
the wistful, hungry face, and the shilling lay 
unclaimed upon the vestry chimney-piece. 
Daniel looked out for her anxiously every morn- 
ing, but no Jessica glided into his secluded cor- 
ner, to sit beside him with her breakfast on her 
lap, and with a number of strange questions to 
ask. He felt her absence more keenly than he 
could have expected. The child was nothing to 
him, he kept saying to himself; and yet he felt 
that she was something, and that he could not 
help being uneasy and anxious about her. Why 
had he never inquired where she lived? The 
minister knew, and for a minute Daniel thought 
he would go and ask him ; but that might awaken 
suspicion. How could he account for so much 
anxiety, when he was supposed only to know of 
her absence from chapel one Sunday evening? 
It would be running a risk, and, after all, Jessica 
90 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


was nothing to him. So he went home and 
looked over his savings-bank book, and counted 
his money, and he found, to his satisfaction, that 
he had gathered together nearly four hundred 
pounds, and was adding more every week. 

But when upon the next Sunday Jessica’s seat 
was again empty, the anxiety of the solemn 
chapel-keeper overcame his prudence and his 
fears. The minister had retired to his vestry, 
and was standing with his arm resting upon the 
chimney-piece, with his eyes fixed upon the un- 
claimed shilling, which Winny had laid there 
before the service, when there was a tap at the 
door, and Daniel entered with a respectful but 
hesitating air. 

‘ 4 Well, Standring f” said the minister, ques- 
tioningly. 

“Sir,” he said, “I’m uncomfortable about 
that little girl, and I know you’ve been once to 
see after her; she told me about it; and so I 
make bold to ask you where she lives, and I’ll 
see what has become of her. ’ ’ 

“Right, Standring,” answered the minister; 
“I am troubled about the child, and so are my 
9i 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


little girls. I thought of going myself, but my 
time is very much occupied just now. ’ ’ 

“I’ll go, sir,” replied Daniel, promptly; 
and, after receiving the necessary information 
about Jessica’s home, he put out the lights, 
locked the door, and turned towards his lonely 
lodgings. 

But though it was getting late upon Sunday 
evening, and Jessica’s home was a long way dis- 
tant, Daniel found that his anxiety would not 
suffer him to return to his solitary room. It 
was of no use to reason with himself, as he stood 
at the corner of the street, feeling perplexed and 
troubled, and promising his conscience that he 
would go the very first thing in the morning 
after he shut up his coffee-stall. In the dim, 
dusky light, as the summer evening drew to a 
close, he fancied he could see Jessica’s thin 
figure and wan face gliding on before him, 
and turning round from time to time to see if 
he were following. It was only fancy, and he 
laughed a little at himself; but the laugh was 
husky, and there was a choking sensation in his 
throat, so he buttoned his Sunday coat over his 
92 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


breast, where liis silver watch and chain hung 
temptingly, and started off at a rapid pace for 
the center of the city. 

It was not quite dark when he reached the 
court, and stumbled up the narrow entry lead- 
ing to it ; but Daniel did hesitate when he opened 
the stable door, and looked into blank, black 
space, in which he could discern nothing. He 
thought he had better retreat while he could do 
so safely, but as he still stood with his hand upon 
the rusty latch, he heard a faint, small voice 
through the nicks of the unceiled boarding above 
his head. 

“Our Father,” said the little voice, “please 
to send somebody to me, for Jesus Christ’s sake. 
Amen. ’ ’ 

“I’m here, Jess,” cried Daniel, with a sudden 
bound of his heart, such as he had not felt for 
years, and which almost took away his breath as 
he peered into the darkness, until at last he dis- 
cerned dimly the ladder which led up into the 
loft. 

Very cautiously, but with an eagerness which 
surprised himself, he climbed up the creaking 
93 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


rounds of the ladder and entered the dismal 
room, where the child was lying in desolate dark- 
ness. Fortunately, he had put his box of 
matches into his pocket, and the end of a wax 
candle with which he kindled the lamps, and in 
another minute a gleam of light shone upon 
Jessica’s white features. She was stretched 
upon a scanty litter of straw under the slanting 
roof where the tiles had not fallen off, with her 
poor rags for her only covering ; but as her eyes 
looked up into Daniel’s face bending over her, a 
bright smile of joy sparkled in them. 

“Oh!” she cried, gladly, but in a feeble voice, 
“it’s Mr. Dan ’el! Has God told you to come 
here, Mr. Dan ’el?” 

“Yes,” said Daniel, kneeling beside her, tak- 
ing her wasted hand in his, and parting the 
matted hair upon her damp forehead. 

“What did he say to you, Mr. Dan ’el?” said 
Jessica. 

“He told me I was a great sinner,” replied 
Daniel. 1 1 He told me I loved a little bit of dirty 
money better than a poor, friendless, helpless 
child, whom he had sent to me to see if I would 
94 



George Rtiter Eiriii. 


Jessica's First )Pr ay er. 


“‘HAS GOD TOLD YOU TO COME HERE, MR. DAN’eL?’ ” 


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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


do her a little good for his sake. He looked at 
me, or the minister did, through and through, 
and he said, 4 Thou fool, this night thy soul shall 
be required of thee: then whose shall those 
things be which thou hast provided!’ And I 
could answer him nothing, Jess. He was come 
to a reckoning with me, and I could not say a 
word to him . ’ 1 

“Aren’t you a good man, Mr. Dan ’el!” whis- 
pered Jessica. 

“No, I’m a wicked sinner,” he cried, while the 
tears rolled down his solemn face. “I’ve been 
constant at God’s house, but only to get money; 
I’ve been steady and industrious, but only to 
get money; and now God looks at me, and he 
says, ‘Thou fool!’ Oh, Jess, Jess! you’re more 
fit for heaven than I ever was in my life.” 

“Why don’t you ask him to make you good for 
Jesus Christ’s sake!” asked the child. 

‘ ‘ I can ’t, ’ ’ he said. “ I ’ve been kneeling down 
Sunday after Sunday when the minister’s been 
praying, but all the time I was thinking how 
rich some of the carriage people were. I’ve 
been loving money and worshiping money all 
97 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


along, and IVe nearly let yon die rather than 
run the risk of losing part of my earnings. I ’m 
a very sinful man. ’ ’ 

“But you know what the minister often says,” 
murmured Jessica: “ ‘ Herein is love, not that 
we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his 
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ ” 

“IVe heard it so often that I don’t feel it,” 
said Daniel. ‘ ‘ I used to like to hear the minister 
say it, but now it goes in at one ear and out at 
the other. My heart is very hard, J essica. ’ ’ 

By the feeble glimmer of the candle Daniel 
saw Jessica’s wistful eyes fixed upon him with a 
sad and loving glance ; and then she lifted up her 
weak hand to her face, and laid it over her closed 
eyelids, and her feverish lips moved slowly. 

“God,” she said, “please to make Mr. 
Dan ’el’s heart soft, for Jesus Christ’s sake. 
Amen. ’ ’ 

She did not speak again, nor Daniel, for some 
time. He took off his Sunday coat and laid it 
over the tiny shivering frame, which was shak- 
ing with cold even in the summer evening ; and 
as he did so he remembered the words which the 
98 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


Lord says he will pronounce at the last day of 
reckoning : 4 ‘ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto 
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me.” Daniel Standring felt his 
heart turning with love to the Saviour, and he 
bowed his head upon his hands, and cried in the 
depths of his contrite spirit, 4 4 God be merciful 
to me, a sinner. ,, 


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THE SHADOW OF DEATH 


7— Jessica. 


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CHAPTER X 


' THE SHADOW OF DEATH 

T HERE was no coffee-stall opened under the 
railway-arch the following morning, and 
Daniel ’s regular customers stood amazed 
as they drew near the empty corner, where they 
were accustomed to get their early breakfast. 
It would have astonished them still more if they 
could have seen how he was occupied in the 
miserable loft. He had intrusted a friendly 
woman out of the court to buy food and fuel, 
and all night long he had watched beside Jessica, 
The neighbor informed him that the child’s 
mother had gone off some days before, fearing 
that she was ill of some infectious fever, and that 
she, alone, had taken a little care of her from 
time to time. As soon as the morning came he 
sent for a doctor, and after receiving permission 
from him he wrapped the poor, deserted Jessica 
in his coat, and bearing her tenderly in his arms 
103 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


down the ladder, he carried her to a cab, which 
the neighbor brought to the entrance of the 
court. It w r as to no other than his own solitary 
home that he had resolved to take her ; and when 
the mistress of the lodgings stood at her door, 
with her arms a-kimbo, to forbid the admission 
of the wretched and neglected child, her tongue 
was silenced by the gleam of a half-sovereign 
which Daniel slipped into the palm of her hard 
hand. 

By that afternoon’s post the minister received 
the following letter: 

“Reverend Sir, 

“If you will condescend to enter under my 
humble roof, you will have the pleasure of see- 
ing little Jessica, who is at the point of death, 
unless God in His mercy restores her. Hoping 
you will excuse this liberty, as I cannot leave 
the child, I remain, with duty, 

“Yours respectful Servant, 

“D. Standring/’ 

“P. S.— Jessica desires her best love and duty 
to Miss Jane and Winny.” 

104 



Jessica's First Prayer. 

“THE MISTRESS OF THE LODGINGS STOOD AT HER DOOR. 

105 


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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


The minister laid aside the book he was read- 
ing, and without any delay started off for his 
chapel-keeper’s dwelling. There was Jessica 
lying restfully upon Daniel’s bed, but the 
pinched features were deadly pale, and the 
sunken eyes shone with a waning light. She was 
too feeble to turn her head when the door 
opened, and he paused for a minute, looking at 
her and at Daniel, who, seated at the head of 
the bed, was turning over the papers in his desk, 
and reckoning up once more the savings of his 
lifetime. But when the minister advanced into 
the middle of the room, Jessica’s white cheeks 
flushed into a deep red. 

“Oh, minister!” she cried, “God has given 
me everything I wanted except paying Mr. 
Dan ’el for the coffee he used to give me. ’ ’ 

“Ah! but God has paid me over and over 
again,” said Daniel, rising to receive the min- 
ister. ‘ ‘ He ’s given me my own soul in exchange 
for it. Let me make bold to speak to you this 
once, sir. You’re a very learned man, and a 
great preacher, and many people flock to hear 
you till I ’m hard put to it to find seats for them 
107 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


at times; but all the while, hearkening to you 
every blessed Sabbath, I was losing my soul, and 
you never once said to me, though you saw me 
scores and scores of times, 4 Standring, are you 
a saved man?” 

“ Standring, ’ ’ said the minister, in a tone of 
great distress and regret, “I always took it for 
granted that you were a Christian. ’ ’ 

“Ah!” continued Daniel, thoughtfully, “but 
God wanted somebody to ask me that question, 
and he did not find anybody in the congrega- 
tion, so he sent this poor little lass to me. Well, 
I don’t mind telling now even if I lose the place ; 
but for a long time, nigh upon ten years, I’ve 
kept a coffee-stall on week-days in the city, and 
cleared, one week with another, about ten shil- 
lings; but I was afraid the chapel- war dens 
wouldn’t approve of the coffee business, as low, 
so I kept it a close secret and always shut up 
early of a morning. It’s me that sold Jessica 
her cup of coffee, which you paid for, sir.” 

‘ ‘ There’s no harm in it, my good fellow, ’ ’ said 
the minister, kindly; “you need make no secret 
of it.” 

108 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


“Well,” resumed Daniel, “the questions this 
poor little creature has asked me have gone 
quicker and deeper down to my conscience than 
all your sermons, if I may make so free as to 
say it. She’s come often and often of a morn- 
ing, and looked into my face with those dear 
eyes of hers, and said, 4 Don’t you love Jesus 
Christ, Mr. Dan ’el ?’ ‘Doesn’t it make you very 
glad that God is your Father, Mr. Dan ’el?’ 
‘Are we getting nearer heaven every day, Mr. 
Dan ’el ? ’ And one day says she, ‘ Are you going 
to give all your money to God, Mr. Dan ’el?’ 
Ah! that question made me think indeed, and 
it’s never been answered till this day. While 
I’ve been sitting beside the bed here, I’ve 
counted up all my savings: 3971. 175, it is; and 
I’ve said, ‘Lord it’s all thine ; and I’d give every 
penny of it rather than lose the child, if it be 
thy blessed will to spare her life.” 

Daniel ’s voice quavered at the last words, and 
his face sank upon the pillow where Jessica’s 
feeble and motionless head lay. There was a 
very sweet, yet surprised, smile upon her face, 
and she lifted her wasted fingers to rest upon the 
109 


JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


bowed head beside her, while she shut her 
eyes and shaded them with her other weak 
hand. 

“Our Father/ ’ she said, in a faint whisper, 
which still reached the ears of the minister and 
the beadle, 4 ‘ I asked you to let me come home to 
heaven ; but if Mr. Dan ’el wants me, please to let 
me stay a little longer, for Jesus Christ’s sake, 
Amen. ’ ’ 

For some minutes after Jessica’s prayer there 
was a deep and unbroken silence in the room, 
Daniel still hiding his face upon the pillow, and 
the minister standing beside them with bowed 
head and closed eyes, as if he also were pray- 
ing. When he looked up again at the forsaken 
and desolate child, he saw that her feeble hand 
had fallen from her face, which looked full of 
rest and peace, while her breath came faintly, 
but regularly, through her parted lips. He took 
her little hand into his own with a pang of fear 
and grief ; but instead of the mortal chillness of 
death he felt the pleasant warmth and moisture 
of life. He touched Daniel’s shoulder, and, as 
he lifted up his head in sudden alarm, he whis- 


no 



“MANY A CHEERFUL WALK THEY HAD TOGETHER.” 


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JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 


pered to him, 4 ‘ The child is not dead, but is only 
asleep. ’ ’ 

Before Jessica was fully recovered Daniel 
rented a little house for himself and his adopted 
daughter to dwell in. He made many inquiries 
after her mother, but she never appeared again 
in her old haunts, and he was well pleased that 
there was nobody to interfere with his charge 
of Jessica. When Jessica grew strong enough, 
many a cheerful walk had they together, in the 
early mornings, as they wended their way to the 
railway-bridge, where the . little girl took her 
place behind the stall, and soon learned to serve 
the daily customers ; and many a happy day was 
spent in helping to sweep and dust the chapel, 
into which she had. crept so secretly at first, her 
great delight being to attend to the pulpit and 
the vestry and the pew where the minister’s 
children sat, while Daniel and the woman he 
employed cleaned the rest of the building. Many 
a Sunday also the minister in his pulpit, and his 
little daughters in their pew, and Daniel tread- 
ing softly about the aisles, as their glance fell 
upon Jessica’s eager, earnest, happy face, 
“3 


JESSICA'S FIRST PRAYER 


thought of the first time they saw her sitting 
amongst the congregation, and of Jessica's first 
prayer. 


114 


ALTEMUS’ GOOD TIMES SERIES 

Handsomely printed, profusely illustrated and attractively bound. 

Cloth, illuminated covers ( 5/4 x 7 % inches) 50 cents each. 

UNDER THE STARS 

By Florence Morse Kingsley 

Four beautiful stories from the life of Jesus. 

A Watch in the Night. The Only Son of His Mother. 

The Child in Jerusalem. The Children’s Bread. 


THE STORY OF THE ROBINS 

By Sarah Trimmer 

“The Story of the Robins” was first published in England under the 
title of “ Fabulous Histories,” in 1785, and acquired instant popularity. 
It has been issued in all sizes and styles ; it has received nothing but 
praise from the greatest of critics ; and it has been illustrated by the best 
artists. It compares favorably with modern works which teach kindness to 
animals. 


JACKANAPES 

By Juliana H. Ewing 

In the story of “jackanapes,” the Captain’s child, with his clear blue 
eyes and mop of yellow curls, is the one important figure. The doting 
aunt, the faithful Tony, the irascible General, the postman, the boy- 
trumpeter, the silent Major, and the ever-dear Lollo, are there, it is true, 
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THE CHRISTMAS STOCKING 

By Elizabeth Wetherell 

This story of the Christmas Stocking has helped to make many children 
happy, for without it many fathers and mothers would have never thought 
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where he is not maae welcome. The things little Carl found in his stocking 
told him stories which should help us into the habit of remembering those 
who have not all the good things we possess. 

LADDIE 

By the Author of “ Miss Toosey’s Mission ” 

A charming story that has been popular for many years, and deservedly so. 

MAKING A START 

By Tudor Jenks. 

A story of a bright boy who did not wait for “ something to turn up,” 
but exercised his talent for drawing until he secured a good position on a 
great daily newspaper. A book for boys who are learning that “the secret 
of success is constancy to purpose.” 


HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 


^5 


ALTEMUS’ GOOD TIMES SERIES 

Handsomely printed, profusely illustrated and attractively bound. 

Cloth, illuminated covers (5J4 x 7% inches) 50 cents each. 

THE STORY OF A DONKEY 

/ 

By Mme. La Comtesse de Segur. 

In this book the donkey tells the story of his life and adventure, be- 
cause, as he says, “i want you to treat all of us donkeys kindly, and to 
remember that we are often much more sensible than some human beings.” 
The story has always been exceedingly popular and has delighted thousands 
of readers. 

MISS TOOSEY’S MISSION 

By the Author of “ Laddie.” 

A delightful and wholesome story that has had a wide circulation and still 
holds its popularity. 

A BLUE GRASS BEAUTY 

By Gabrielle E. Jackson. 

Never did Kentucky turn out a handsomer creature than the Blue Grass 
Beauty who twice carried off the Blue Ribbon at New York’s great annual 
horse show. With the story of his life is woven that of some very nice 
people, and all is set forth in Mrs. Jackson’s inimitable manner. It is far too 
good a book to mislay. 

~THE STORY OF A SHORT LIFE 

By Juliana H. Ewing. 

In “The Story of a Short Life,” Mrs. Ewing again sings the praises of 
military life and courtesies. Many people admire Leonard’s story as 
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life are much more within the range of common experiences than those of the 
latter. It is a simple, exquisitely tender little story. 

JESSICA’S FIRST PRAYER 

By Hesba Stretton. 

A beautiful and pathetic story which appeals to all children, and to older 
readers as well. 


THE ADVENTURES OF BARON 
MUNCHAUSEN 

By Rudolph Erich Raspe. 

In 1737 Baron Munchausen served in Russian campaigns against the 
Turks, and after his return acquired great notoriety by his exaggerated 
stories of adventure. These stories are so outrageous, and Munchausen 
asserts so strongly that they are all strictly true, that his name has become 
proverbial as a synonym for extravagant boasting. 


HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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